Topic: Media Research Center
We've noted the anti-vaxxer activism of Media Research Center sports blogger John Simmons. There's more where that came from.
In an Oct. 13 post, Simmons cheered NBA star Kyrie Irving for refusing to get vaccinated and standing up the vaccine mandate of the supposedly evil NBA, even though he's being selfish and harming his team by doing so:
Irving is on point; his perception is not wrong. The NBA is trying to use their power and influence to get people to be vaccinated, and they are threatening to take away their employees’ livelihood in the process (while Irving is already a millionaire, he will lose an estimated $380,000 for every game he doesn’t play).
What we see in the NBA and with Irving’s situation is an extension of what we see in our nation at large, and Irving is perfectly in the right to protest the vaccine mandate. He and any others who stand against it will be ridiculed, but hopefully, enough will stand against it to create change.
Until then, we can only hope Irving will not cave to the pressure of getting the jab.
The following week, Simmons defended Irving's selfishness when notorious individual Charles Barkley called Irving out on it:
Cleveland Clinic infectious disease specialist Lyssette Cardona, MD, said that there is still a chance that vaccinated people could get COVID-19, which means that you can still spread it to anyone you meet. Can it help your immune system in the physical battle against COVID? Sure. But is it a magical cure that will remove sickness for good? No.
So “getting it for other people” seems like a weak argument to use when criticizing another person for their decision. This argument is emotion-driven and not based on the reality that no matter what decision we all make, sickness and COVID-19 are just a byproduct of an imperfect world, and there is nothing we can do to fully eliminate it.
It sounds like anyone who uses this reasoning, including Barkley, is simply too scared of being sick to continue to live a normal life, and further needs everyone else to cater to their emotional needs. And that is more selfish than someone not getting the COVID jab because of personal preference.
Getting a vaccine is simply a matter of personal choice, nothing more, nothing less. Kyrie Irving is perfectly within his rights as an individual to not get the vaccine, and no one should coerce him into changing his mind, not even the great Round Mound of Rebound.
On Oct. 19, Simmons had a sad that Washington State University football coach Nick Rolovich was fired for not getting vaccinated, again portraying selfishness as individualism (apparently forgetting there's no I in team):
The beauty of individual autonomy is that you should have the freedom to make a decision without explaining why you did something, especially not the vaccine mob that apparently has a stronghold in Washington State’s government and colleges. Whether it is a vaccine mandate, our religion, our career paths, or where we live, we have the ability to choose and not be scrutinized for those decisions.
Rolovich and his assistant may have lost their jobs because of this, but they have chosen to value their freedom than comfort, something that will pay dividends in the long run.
Simmons found another selfish person to tout in an Oct. 22 post:
It’s been quite a week for Allison Williams. An ESPN college basketball and football reporter for 10 years, she quit the network last week because she declined to get vaccinated, and ESPN rejected her request for an accommodation. On Thursday, Williams did an interview with Megyn Kelly on her eponymous SiriusXM show, Williams criticized the president and others easily given to dismiss our freedom via COVID-19 vaccination mandates. And on Friday it was announced she’s joining the conservative Daily Signal.
During said interview, Kelly asked Williams about President Joe Biden (stupidly) remarking last month that the vaccine mandate “isn’t about your freedom.” Williams torched him for throwing freedom under the bus:
Because right-wingers like Williams and Simmons have decided that personal convenience is more important than public health, apparently.
Simmons went to the tennis world for his latest selfish athlete in an Oct. 26 post:
Novak Djokovic is without question one of the greatest tennis players of our generation. Nevertheless, he is often branded as a villain of the sport due to his racket-smashing shenanigans and his willingness to challenge the level-headed, gentlemanly mold of a tennis player with his intense competitiveness. But the villain might now be the hero in a greater cause after his stand against the Australian government.
Ahead of the Australian Open, the first leg of the tennis Grand Slam that is set to be held in January, Australian Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke said that anyone wishing to enter the country, not just tennis players, must be “double vaccinated” to cross their border.
Djokovic fired back at the command with the same force as one of his serves, telling local Serbian media that:
I will not reveal my status whether I have been vaccinated or not, it is a private matter and an inappropriate inquiry … People go too far these days in taking the liberty to ask questions and judge a person. Whatever you say -- ‘Yes, no, maybe, I am thinking about it,’ they will take advantage.
It appears that Djokovic having a spine and standing up to the bullies in the Australian government paid off. Yesterday, Tennis Australia, the governing body for Tennis in the country, announced that unvaccinated players will be allowed to participate in the tournament as long as they undergo a two-week quarantine period beforehand (this course of action goes against their original plan to have all tennis players vaccinated).
Djokovic’s convicted stance against tyranny is without a doubt a major victory for unvaccinated players and it is what likely forced Tennis Australia to change course (after all, how could they afford to forgo the millions they would lose in revenue if Djokovic refused to join the tournament?). But it also speaks to a more important lesson about just how easy it can be stand up to bullies and tyrants.
Just like a right-winger to portray people trying to preserve public health as "bullies and tyrants."
